


Open up

by The_great_Amethyst



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Gen, Identity Porn, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, OH this is going to suck, POV Multiple, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Secret Identity, Slow Burn, They Still Have Powers Though, This all started out two stupid ideas, and then it just spiraled from there, human lie detector Loki, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-02-26 17:39:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_great_Amethyst/pseuds/The_great_Amethyst
Summary: Sometimes Stephen will look out on his life and ask himself 'what the hell happened?'. He's working as a detective and being Sorcerer Supreme all at the same time. And his new partner Loki isn't making things any better, especially when Stephen's night job comes to haunt his day job.(Warning: this work will have descriptions of violence, descriptions of dead bodies and some more, there will be a note at the beginning of the chapter if a chapter has something that may be triggering)(Also i have done like zero research on police stuff so like i'm going off of what i know from TV shows)





	1. Chapter 1

Stephen wasn’t a simple guy. Though from most people's perspective he was. To most people, he was just a detective who was amazingly good at his job and managed to work his way up quickly. But only a select few—well only two people—knew both sides of him. They knew the cunning detective and the Sorcerer Supreme.

Yeah, he was both of them, which was a tall order for even him. He had to run out of the office if Wong ever needed him or he had to stop in the middle of training because fucking Tony needed him on a case. It’s hard to handle sometimes, running in between so many things but having to make sure nobody knows what he’s doing. But he managed, even if he got little to no sleep.

 

Or like today where he’s gotten no sleep in the past forty-eight hours.

“I still don’t know why you do this to yourself,” Wong said, leaning against the door frame, watching as Stephen finished dressing himself up for work. His work clothes were simple, a white dress shirt with a dark blue vest, a black tie, and black slacks. And he was wearing the Eye of Agamotto of course, he didn’t go anywhere without it at this point.

 

Wong was the first one to know about this whole thing he had going on, he was his best friend after all. And he still fondly holds the memory of Wong spitting out his tea when he told him that he was going to be a detective. He remembers it every time he needs some cheering up, it always does the job.

 

“Because I want to help as many people as I can,” He explained like he had a thousand times before. He honestly wanted to help everyone he could, it felt like he had too. It felt like a punch in the gut if he just stood there and did nothing while innocent people got killed. So, what else was he meant to do?

 

“You could still help people if you were the Sorcerer Supreme full time,” He pointed out. “And you would be able to get a full night’s rest,”

 

“Yeah, I could, but,” He reached up and adjusted his tie a bit. “I wouldn’t be able to help like the way I am right now as a detective. I couldn’t help out in any cases, solve murders, you know the normal stuff.”

 

Wong shot Stephen a pointed look but he just smirked back at him. It felt like they had something like this conversation every week. It always ended the same. Wong sighed and shook his head.

 

“Fine, I won’t hold you back from doing it,” He smiled sadly. “Just get some sleep tonight, all right?”

 

Stephen smiled back at him and nodded. “I’ll try to, promise,” He said. They both knew that it meant that Stephen would try to go to sleep only if he didn’t get a good case today.

 

Wong gave him a nod before walking out of the room, probably on his way to Kamar-Taj.

 

Stephen sighed and shook his head. It was nice to know that Wong cared about him. But he didn’t want Wong to worry over him too much, even if Stephen gave him a lot to worry about.

 

He grabbed his leather jacket from the dresser it was lying on. Throwing it on and heading out the door, mentally preparing himself for (hopefully) a long day of paperwork with a bit of Stark being an asshole mixed in there. But what else was new?

 

When this first started out Wong had expected him to make a portal to work each day. Which was absurd-especially since he was trying to keep it a secret that he was a goddamned Sorcerer. Plus, he needed to get to and from crime scenes, and he occasionally had to bring people with him. He couldn’t use a portal then.

 

So, he bought a motorcycle to use.

 

Yes, he could have just bought a car, but he’s not sure he can drive one anymore without panicking and remembering….that.

 

Motorcycle it was.

 

He slid onto his motorcycle, not bothering with a helmet. He enchanted it when he first got it. It would create a force field around him if he did get in a crash and with a little bit of illusion magic anyone who wanted to see him with a helmet on would.

 

Stephen sighed as he put in the key and started to drive off to work.

* * *

 

He furrowed his eyebrows as he walked into the office; the air felt tense somehow. Nobody was talking. Not even Clint, which was amazing really. He’d have to learn what was going on so he could shut Clint up when he was getting annoying. Which was like every moment he talked.

 

It felt as if the whole entire office was looking at him, waiting for him to do something. Stephen glanced over at Natasha, whose desk was nearest to him.

 

“What the hell’s going on? I didn’t grow a third eye or something, right?” He said disguising it as a light joke. But really he was concerned since it was an actual real possibility at this point.

 

Natasha smiled sweetly, which was a smile that always meant trouble.

“Stark wants to see you in his office, he has a little surprise for you,” She explained with a shrug of a shoulder in the office’s general direction.

Stephen’s eyebrows furrowed even further. Why the hell would Tony want to see him? Tony left him to do his own thing, only calling him to his office when he needed him on a special case. But those were usually private meetings though, the whole precinct never really knew about them.

 

“Okay…?” He trailed off. He shook his head and started walking over too Tony’s office.

 

“Good luck Strange!” Clint called out as Stephen entered the office, closing the door behind him.

 

Tony was sitting at his desk, typing away at his computer. The office looked exactly how you would think Tony’s office would work once you got to know him. The walls were painted a nice hot red, making the black desk pop in the room. There were a few case files resting on the side of a desk and Stephen felt an itch in his chest to just grab one and look through it. But he could control that itch, for now at least.

 

Tony glanced up from his computer. “Stephen, what are you doing in here?” Tony joked with one of his classic Stark grins™.

 

Stephen rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m here because you wanted me here, and apparently the whole goddamned precinct knew about it before me,”

 

Tony leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, okay fair I have a good reason for that. Just come on sit down,” He said gesturing to the chairs that were in front of his desk.

 

Stephen gave Tony a quick pointed glare but moved over to sit down in one of the chairs.

 

“So, what is this about?” Stephen asked.

“Well, someone likes to skip the foreplay,” Tony murmured, grabbing one of the case files off the desk. He flipped through it for a moment, and Stephen couldn’t help but wonder if it actually was a special case that Tony wanted him on.

 

“Ah, here we go.” He gently tossed the file on the desk making it slide over to Stephen.

 

Stephen took the file in his ever shaking hands, but at least the shaking wasn’t too noticeable. His eyes were immediately drawn to the picture of a man with long black hair who seemed to be wearing a black suit.

 

“Some sort of missing person case?” He asked as he skimmed the information on the page.

 

Tony snorted. “No, Stephen, not everything’s a case you know,” He sighed.

 

“I don’t think everything is a case,” Stephen retorted as he glanced up, already annoyed with Tony even though he’d only been here for only a minute.

 

“Yeah sure you don’t,” Tony rolled his eyes.

 

“Whatever, just tell me what this is all about,”

 

Tony smiled, a smile that could not be any good. He put his hands behind his head.

“This is your new partner, Loki Laufeyson,”

Those words hit Stephen like a fucking fireball. No, no, Tony couldn’t have put him with a partner. He’s almost always worked alone, (with the exception of coroners and forensics of course,) only bringing other detectives to help him when he was at the end of his rope. Which was almost never. It was how he worked best; it was how he solved every case. It was how he kept his secret.

“No,” Stephen said firmly, dropping the file on the desk.

 

“Yes,”

 

“No,” He said gritting his teeth. “Stark, I can’t work with a partner, you know this already,”

 

“Strange I know that, but you can’t keep running around without a partner to back you up!” Tony grabbed the folder and held it back out to him.

 

Stephen crossed his arms. “I don’t need anyone to back me up, and if I do I’ll just ask Natasha or something,”

 

“She won’t be there all the time, and neither will anyone else,”

 

“So? Like I said I don’t need backup,”

 

Tony clenched his jaw.

 

“Don’t need backup? Strange we all need back up sometimes, and just because you haven’t been shot yet doesn’t mean that you don’t need a partner! In fact your damn lucky that you haven’t gotten shot,” It wasn’t really luck, more just he was really good at dodging bullets and really good with putting up a fight. Which were both things he never expected to be good at.

 

Tony had a semi-good point though. He ran into everything head first, usually without back up. But that was how he worked.

 

“It’s still a no from me,”

 

“Too bad, you’re still getting him as a partner,”

 

“But-”

“But nothing, you’re getting him as a partner and that’s final,” Tony said, glaring at Stephen. He glared back at Tony, he knew he couldn’t just walk out of here, or just continue to deny Tony. Neither of which would turn out that well for him.

 

Stephen groaned. “I’ll work one case with him and we’ll see how that goes. Deal?”

Tony smirked like he had won, which he kind of had honestly.

 

“Sounds good,” He said, offering the file back to him. “Now take this file, go back to your desk and learn a little about your new partner before he gets here,”

 

Stephen hesitantly grabbed the file from Tony. “When is he going to be here?” He asked getting up from his seat.

 

Tony shrugged. “Don’t know, Thor said he would be here soon, but he’s just a little uh….” Tony trailed off, glancing around the room. Stephen rose an eyebrow.

“Nervous to do this,”

 

Stephen slowly nodded, not quite believing what Tony was telling him. He turned on his heel and walked out the door. Today was not going to be a fun day for him.

 

* * *

 

“I am Loki, God of mischief, I should not be working for the police!” Loki said to Thor for the twentieth time during this car ride that Thor had forced him into. He could leave, just disappear from the car and go back. But he kind of wanted to stay here. To see where Thor was going with all this of course.  
  
“Brother, this will be good for you,” Thor said plain and simple. Not taking his eyes off the road for even a split second. He must be used to this by now, which was horrible. Loki would have to up his game.  
  
“Oh, yeah? Working with all your little Avenger friends will do me good?”  Loki scoffed crossing his arms against his chest, feeling the seat belt push against his neck slightly. Norns he hated this thing, he understood that Midgardians needed protection against the most simple of things. But why did they always have to make it so uncomfortable?

 

Thor sighed, shaking his head. “You have been sulking in your room for almost year,” He pointed out. Loki cringed slightly at that. It was true, he barely left his room, only leaving when Thor’s little team needed him.

 

“So? Just let me sulk for another year, then I’ll be fine,” Loki said with a twinge of pain behind his words. And he knew that Thor noticed it.

 

“Loki….I know that what happened to Asgard was hard on all of us.”

 

“You mean all four of us?” Loki said bitterly. He turned to look out the window, watching the cars pass by them.

 

“Yes, but everyone has tried to move on. Except you, that is,” Thor sounded sad as he said that. Like he was sad that Loki couldn’t get over something that was basically his fault. Something that he could have prevented. It was his fault that almost everybody died that day. Loki shook his head, trying to clear it.

 

“And working as a detective will help me ‘move on’?”

 

“Hm-mm,” Thor hummed. “It’ll be like a fresh start for you,”

 

“Yes, because working with somebody I already know to solve a murder will be such a fresh start,” Loki said letting the sarcasm seep through his voice. He already knew everybody that worked in Thors division.

 

“You don’t know the person you’ll be working with,”  
  
Loki whipped his head around to look at Thor like he had grown a second head.

 

“Sorry?” Loki asked.

 

Thor had a self-satisfying smirk on his face, that Loki just wanted to punch off of him. Maybe he’ll do that later after they were out of the car.

 

“I haven’t mentioned him, and he’s not an Avenger, so you don’t know him,”

 

Loki rose an eyebrow. “I thought Stark and Rogers only wanted Avengers in their division,” He said, remembering a stupid meeting that he barely paid any attention to where Stark mentioned it offhandedly.

 

“They do, but Stephen is the special exception,”

 

Stephen, okay, this man’s name was Stephen. He’d have to keep that in mind for later.

 

“Why?”

 

Thor glanced at him and Loki was suddenly very glad that Thor had gotten a prosthetic eye because it would have been extremely creepy to see him glance over with one eye.

 

“He is good at his job, so Tony wanted him with us,” Thor sighed as he turned on his turn signal. “He does not know that we’re the Avengers though, so keep that in mind when you work with him,”

 

That was odd...Stark wouldn’t just want anyone on his team. So Stephen must have something special about him. Something that Tony saw. And Loki almost wanted to find out what that something was.

 

Almost.

 

“Who says I’m going to work with him?” Loki asked as Thor turned into the parking lot.

 

“You do, because if you did not want to at least try to work as an agent then you would have just disappeared ten minutes ago,” Thor pointed out and Loki wants to punch Thor for knowing him so well. Because nobody has that right, at all.

 

Loki huffed and leaned back into his seat. Thor pulled into a free parking place and turned off the car with a small click. Thor turned to look at him, putting his hand on Loki’s shoulder. Loki sneered at his hand but allowed to stay anyways.

 

“You’ll be good at this Loki,”

 

“And how do you know that?” Loki asked, even though they both knew exactly why he would be.

 

“You know,” Thor said with a small smile.

Loki sighed. “Fine, I’ll try to do it,” He shook his head.”But please let me be able to disappear anytime I want,”

 

Thor’s smile turned into a full-on grin. “Of course you can do that, just don’t use magic on anything or anyone and we will all be good,”

 

He frowned. “No magic? Really?”

 

“No magic, unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Thor pulled his arm away from Loki’s shoulder. He opened the car door.

 

That stupid rule really, Loki basically breathed magic. But it did make sense, he was going to be working with a Midgardian who had no idea that magic existed after all.

“Your new badge and gun are in the glove box, so come in when you are ready to,”  

 

Loki tilted his head a bit, a small smirk playing on his lips.

“Do you actually trust me with a gun?”

 

“No, I really do not,” Thor said with a little twinkle of mischief playing in his eyes. “But I’d rather you have a gun than a blade,” He said knowingly.

 

Thor got out of the car slowly. “Welcome to your first day on the job Detective Laufeyson,” Thor said before closing the door, leaving Loki alone so that he could prepare himself for whatever hell he just got himself into.

 

* * *

 

“Human lie detector huh?” Stephen muttered into his second cup of coffee. It was good of Tony to actually give him Loki’s file. He must have learned that Stephen wanted to learn as much as he could about the people he was working with.

 

So far Loki’s file had been...interesting to say the least. He was a twenty-six-year-old man who had worked his way up quickly, just like he had. He was supposedly good at fighting, knew when to do something and when not to do it and was basically a human lie detector.

 

Looking at everything Loki was good at made it obvious why Tony wanted him. Tony only took in the best that he could after all.

 

The precinct was back up to its usual chattering, clearly, the only problem they had was that Stephen was getting a partner and they didn’t know how he would take it. And from what he’s overheard so far everyone thinks that he took it better than they expected.

 

Hell even he was surprised that he didn’t just walk out of there after hearing it.

 

“Stephen!”

 

He looked up from the file. Thor was walking towards his desk, he had his jacket folded over one arm.

 

Stephen smiled at Thor. Thor was always the nicest to him, even when he first got here and nobody really trusted him.

 

“Hey buddy, heard that you were the one bringing the new recruit here,” Stephen said, taking a sip of his coffee.

 

Thor nodded happily. “Yes, I am, he’s in the car right now,”

 

“Hm, so he really is nervous?”

 

Thor’s face twisted in confusion and maybe a little disgust in there. Stephen wasn’t completely sure.

 

“Nervous?” Thor laughed quietly. “ My brother nervous? You must kid,” Thor came to a stop in front of his desk.

 

Stephen choked on air.  He coughed for a moment before he could say anything

 

“He’s your brother?” He said, setting down his coffee on his desk slowly. He should have seen it coming honestly, Loki and Thor were brothers in mythology after all.

 

Thor cocked his head. “Yes, did Tony not tell you?”

 

“All he gave me is this,” He waved the file around. “And it mentions nothing about you two being brothers, also he has a different last name than yours,” Stephen said, still trying to recover from the shock that Thor had a brother that he never mentioned.

 

Thor glanced up for a second then nodded. “I’ll have to talk to Tony about not telling you that, but yes he has a different last name because he’s-”

 

“Adopted,” A posh voice said. Stephen and Thor looked away from each other to look at whoever said that.

 

“I’m adopted, I decided to use my real father’s last name so I wouldn’t be compared to my brother,” Loki explained as he stopped next to Thor. Putting his hands on his hips. He looked exactly like the picture, he was even wearing the same black on black suit. The only difference was that he had his hair pulled up in a low bun. Honestly, he was getting full marks appearance wise, now he had to find out what he was like personality wise.

 

“I’m Loki Laufeyson and I take it your Stephen?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Stephen gave a small smile to him.

 

“Yes, Stephen Strange, nice to meet you,”

 

“It is a pleasure to meet you too, partner,”

 

“Don’t call me that.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the pandering chapter because I need more time to do research on dead bodies - which sounds very weird now that i say it - but I don't want to not update for a long time so here we are!

Loki had to admit, seeing Stephen in person made him curious. He had expected Stephen to have something about him that immediately made it clear why Stark had wanted him. But...there wasn’t. Stephen just looked like a normal, slightly attractive guy. The only thing that was odd about him was the air of mysteriousness that seemed to be surrounding him, and maybe the eye pendant that he was wearing. Though, that’s more of a fashion mistake instead of something odd.

 

Loki glanced over at Thor. Thor smiled that sickeningly sweet smile that made Loki want to gag.

“Well,” He started, looking at the two. “I’ll leave so you two can get to know each other, ” Thor said.

 

Loki gave a quick nod to him. Good, he was glad Thor wasn’t going to try to drag him off somewhere. He wanted to talk to Stephen some more before that happened.

 

“Alright, off you go then,” Loki said. Thor rolled his eyes.

 

“I will, I will, oh and Loki this is your desk,” He said, gesturing to the desk right across from Stephens. Loki glared at the desk for a moment as Thor walked away to. Great, it was just going to be so much fun to work across from somebody.

 

Stephen looked away from Loki and waved goodbye with his free hand. Loki took note of the odd scars on his hand that were clearly visible but tucked it away in the back off his mind. He didn’t need to ask about them right now, he might do it later though.

 

Stephen put all his attention back on Loki and it was like the air around them shifted a bit.  Stephens friendly demeanor was still there, but it was clear that something else was there, something that Loki couldn’t quite put his finger on.

 

Loki kept his eyes on Stephen as he slowly pulled out his desk chair and sat down. He might as well try to get settled, key word try.

 

“You know, I’ve never actually had a real partner,” He said, closing the file in his hand and putting it on the desk. Loki tilted his head a bit.   


“Why not?” He said because he knew Stark well enough now that he thought that he would try to set Stephen up with a semi-consistent partner before he arrived. Even if there weren’t enough people here.

 

Stephen shrugged. “I work better alone most of the time, and I thought that Tony had learned that by now, but here we are!” Stephen sighed, shaking his head.

 

Loki hummed. “I also think that I work better alone, but you have to admit that it is safer to have a partner,” _Especially if your Midgardian_ Loki thought. Loki could take bullets, knives, or whatever the bastards wanted to throw at him. But Stephen was just human, who were just so easy to break for some reason. Guess it’s what you get when you haven’t known about magic or other realms until recently.

 

Stephen nodded in agreement. “Well no shit Layefson, I know it’s technically safer, but I don’t like people following me- “

 

A little alarm like feeling sparked in the back of Loki’s head, it was a familiar feeling, one that he knew all too well. Stephen was lying to him. His eyes unconsciously zeroed in on Stephen’s hands. They slowly clenched into fists as he spoke. “-around trying to help,” Stephen finished and his hands slowly unclenched. His hands were his tick, the tell-tale sign that he was lying. But why? Why was he lying about something so small?  
  
“Why are you lying?” Loki asked plainly. Stephen opened his mouth a little, staring at him for a moment before clearing his throat.   
  
“Right, human lie detector, right,” Stephen muttered as he sat up, straightening his back. Loki felt a little urge to correct him, he wasn’t exactly human after all. But he kept his mouth shut in a thin line, he didn’t want to break Thor’s little rule yet, he would wait a week before he even did that.

 

“How do you do that?” Stephen asked quickly in a poor attempt to subvert the subject. “I mean you must have studied for years to even be able to do it, right?” Loki raised an eyebrow at him, he’d let him off the hook, for now. Everyone was entitled to there lies after all.

 

“Yes,” Loki answered, nodding. “Years of studying body language and now I’m quite good at it if I say so myself,” Loki said, with a hint of amusement in his voice, but not too much, he didn’t want to give away that he was lying straight to his face. He never studied, never learned how to spot lies. It just sort of _happened_ one day, suddenly he was able to spot every lie, no matter how big or small.

 

His mother said it was because he was the god of mischief and lies, said that it was his own little gift that only he could do. Loki barely calls it a gift now though, it’s caused much more harm than good in his opinion.

 

Stephen relaxed into his seat, looking at Loki. “Huh, thought it would’ve taken longer to figure out how to do it that well, I mean, you're only twenty-six,” He said.

Loki furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before just nodding along with what he was saying. Stark really told Stephen that he was twenty-six? Couldn’t he have told Stephen that he was a little bit older?

 

“Can’t really judge though, I got my degree at what most people consider a young age,”

 

“What is your degree?” Loki asked without hesitation, wanting to get as much information out of Stephen without seeming too creepy.

 

“Medical, and I also have a Ph. D,”

 

Loki smirked. “Doctor Stephen Strange does have a nice ring to it,”

 

“I prefer detective now,”

 

“Why is that?”

  
Stephen’s face suddenly went cold but Loki just continued.

 

“Being a Doctor is one of the best careers out there, and turning it in for being a detective sounds like a step back,” Loki stared at Stephen, wating, wating for an answer for what should be a simple question. Instead of answering Stephen just stared back at him, narrowing his eyes a little.

 

It was obviously clear that Stephen didn’t want him to know why, but at this point, Loki didn’t really care. He could pass off a little lie, but refusing to answer him wasn’t something he could just brush off. Most of the time people refusing to answer him led to the biggest lie they’ve ever told. It’s what happened with Odin.

 

A buzz dragged Loki and Stephen out of their little staring contest. He watched Stephen grab his phone off the table, looking at the notification that had appeared. Stephen smiled at it, typing something before setting it down on the desk.

 

“I - sorry _we_ have a case,” Stephen said, getting up and grabbing his jacket that was draped on the back of the chair. Loki felt his heart beat faster at those words, they had a fucking case? Already?

 

“Why didn’t I get a text then?” Loki asked getting up and pushing his chair into his desk. Stephen shrugged.

 

“They’re probably not used to you being here, but I’m sure they’ll do it next time,”

 

“They better,” Loki grumbled. Stephen put on his jacket then grabbed his phone and keys, putting his phone in his pocket.   


“It’s a murder case, only one victim,” Stephen spun his keys on his fingers. “I don’t know if it’s lucky or unlucky that your first case is a murder case,”

 

“I’m going to go with both,” Loki said.  


Stephen nodded. “You’ve got everything?” He asked, slightly gesturing to his gun that was on his own hip. Loki gave one quick nod, putting his hand on his hip to check for his gun and checking that his badge was in his pocket.

 

With that Stephen started to walk to the door. Loki followed, making sure they were standing side by side.

 

“Have you ever ridden a motorcycle before?” Stephen asked with an amused smile. Loki blinked.

 

“No, I haven’t….”   


“Well, you're going to be riding your first one today, good luck,” Stephen said quickly, hitting Loki’s back lightly before walking away from him. Loki paused in his tracks, trying to process what he said.

 

“What?” He called out. Stephen glanced back and gestured for him to come.

  


Loki sighed but grudgingly started to walk over to Stephen, he wasn’t sure if this was the best or worst thing he’s ever done. But he was sure of one thing, that he wasn’t going to quit until he found out why Stephen was here and what he was hiding. And he could only hope that this case would answer both of those questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank's to everyone that commented and subscribed, it really means a lot to me. <3
> 
> As always comments and kudos are always appreciated and loved! Especially comments since that's usually what keeps me writing this thing.
> 
>  
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://amethyst2900.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IM BACK BABY WITH A NEW CHAPTER THAT I'M NOT SURE ABOUT, strap in your fantasy seat belts let's go.   
> TW: Some blood, but not too much, promise.

Riding around on the motorcycle became a sort of therapy for Stephen. Driving around, feeling the wind on his face, ignoring everything except the road in front of him. It calmed his mind after a nightmare, helped him sort out his thoughts on a case. And driving to the crime scene was just what he needed to help clear his mind after the minor disaster that happened just a few minutes ago. Although he couldn’t exactly just clear his mind.

 

 Loki’s oddly cold arms were wrapped around his waist, not too tightly though, just tight enough so that he wouldn’t fall off. But it was still a distraction, a constant force in his mind reminding him why this whole wouldn’t work out. Especially with someone who could spot lies as easy as Loki, seriously, Stephen didn’t even realize that he was technically lying until Loki called him out on it. He was telling a half-truth really, he really didn’t like people trying to help him out when he didn’t need it, but of course, that wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want to have a partner. 

 

This whole entire side of his life was built on lies and half-truths. His files saying that he went to the police academy were fake, the files that said that he never actually became a doctor after he got his degree was fake. 

 

Almost everything about his past that they knew about was fake, and the only reason they hadn’t found his actual files yet is because he’d used magic to keep them from seeing them. It felt wrong to be doing it, it felt dirty somehow, he consider everyone there a friend of his and he never liked lying to friends. But he had to keep it up. He wanted to keep his job, and he had a feeling that if they did find out then they would fire him, then probably try to arrest him. 

 

And now that Loki was here--now that Loki was his  _ partner  _ he had to be careful with what he said. Careful with what he did. If Loki got too close, finds out too much then this side of his life could disappear within an instant. And he knew what it felt like to have his life come crashing down around him and he wasn’t prepared to go through it again. Even if he did have the mystic arts to turn his full attention on if everything here went wrong.

 

Stephen shook his head as he turned on to the street of the crime scene, he needed to forget about all that for now, no matter how much he didn’t want to. He had a murder to solve.

 

The whole street was spotted with police cars, some of them were there helping direct traffic, but most of them were in front of just one building, which was a bar if what Steve had texted him was true.

Really, it was pretty cliche for a murder to happen at a bar, but it happened much more often then most people would expect. People got drunk, then they got angry for no reason, then a fight would break out and someone got killed. Which made Stephen shudder when he thought about it too much. 

 

He pulled up next to the curb, making sure he’s parked a little bit away from the police cars, he didn’t like the fuss it took to get out of there. He turned off the motorcycle, stuffing the keys into his pocket and quickly kicked the kickstand down. 

 

As soon as the click of the kickstand could be heard Loki’s arms pulled away from his waist. Loki got off the motorcycle at what seemed like an inhuman speed, he turned back but instead of looking at Stephen his eyes went to the metal of the motorcycle. Loki frowned. 

 

“You messed up my hair,” He mumbled, reaching up to fix his hair, using the reflection in the metal to guide him. Stephen rolled his eyes, yes Loki’s hair was a little messed up, but not anything that couldn’t be easily fixed. Stephen got up from the motorcycle. 

 

“ Well, sorry princess, I didn't expect anyone to be riding with me today, but I'll make sure to bring a helmet with me tomorrow, ” Stephen said with a mad twinge to his voice. 

 

“I don’t need a helmet,” Loki grumbled, almost sounding mad that Stephen even suggested it. Loki took his hair out of the bun, leaving him in a low hanging ponytail. “In fact, if anyone would need one, it would be you,” He said quietly, so low that Stephen was sure he wasn’t meant to hear it. But he heard it anyways.

 

“R eally? You actually think that  _ I  _ would need a helmet even though I've been riding for almost four years? ” He said, not technically lying. In real-time, he’s been riding for about a year. But if you count the time he’s spent riding around while time was paused, that would add up to about four years.

 

Loki rolled his eyes. “Thought you would be all for wearing helmets Mr. Doctor,” He said, starting to walk towards the crime scene at a brisk pace. Stephen sighed, almost feeling relieved that there was no sign that Loki thought he was lying.  He quickly caught up with Loki, falling into step with him.    
  
“I am Loki, I just don’t wear one,” 

“You do know that you’ll die if you crash, right?”    
  
“Of course I do asshole,” 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Loki look at him curiously but Stephen just kept his head straight, wanting this to end as soon as it could. Just so he could stop being annoyed by a constant presence next to him. 

 

The rest of the walk to the bar was filled with tense silence, only broken by the quick hello Stephen gave to the policeman at the barricade tape while Loki ignored them both at kept walking. 

 

Stephen took one step into the bar and already knew that this was going to be a big one. The bar itself was pretty small, only a few booths and tables surrounding a moderately sized bar with what felt like way too many officers and forensic investigators inside. Though, it was pretty much destroyed. Glass was absolutely covering the ground, some of it from glasses and some from bottles of alcohol, which made the air smell even worse somehow. There was clearly a struggle, it didn’t take a detective to figure that out.  

 

Loki looked around, putting his hands in his pockets as his eyebrow’s knitted together. 

 

“Where’s the body?” He questioned, rightfully so, the only sign of a body being there was a pool of blood on the floor. 

 

There was a shutter of a camera behind them before a voice spoke up. “She was still alive when we got here, but She died on his way to the hospital so She’s being sent up to Dr.Banner,” 

 

Stephen smiled a bit as Peter Parker stepped around them, still looking down at his camera. Peter, even though he was only seventeen, was somehow one of the best forensic investigators the NYPD had. Only being bested by Scott Lang. 

 

Loki smiled a tiny bit. “It’s good to see you here Parker,” 

 

Stephen cocked his head a little bit, how the hell did they know each other? 

 

Peter looked up at Loki and smiled. “Great to see you too Mr. Loki, and you too Detective Strange,” 

 

Stephen nodded. “It’s nice to see you, Peter, although, I didn’t expect you two to know each other,” He pointed a finger at both of them. 

 

Peter laughed a bit. Reaching up to rub the back of his head. “Well, uh, I had a break in a case I was working with Thor and Val so I rushed over to his house because he wasn’t answering his phone and Mr. Loki was over there so after we caught the guy I got to talk to Mr. Loki for a little bit, right?”  

 

Peter nervously looked over at Loki, who had his eyes narrowed on Peter as he spoke. Loki took a deep breath and sighed. “Yes, I believe it was the Maximum case,”

 

Peter nodded quickly. “Yeah, that case, really cool,” 

 

“It was a triple homicide,” Stephen pointed out, recalling some details of the case that Valkyrie told him. 

 

“Everything was cool except that part, obviously,” Peter said. 

 

Loki shook his head. “Shouldn’t we be getting on with this case?” 

 

“Yeah, right, on with that,” Peter tapped his fingers against his camera before turning on his heel a gesturing for them to follow him to the middle of the room.    
  
“So,” Peter started. “I haven’t found out too much yet, mainly because I’m not really allowed to talk to the witness, who’s in the back right now by the way,” He pointed to a door that said ‘employees only’. “But, here’s what I got, our victim, Kat Una, was bartending here and talking to the witness, who’s also her boss just so you know, then some dude came in, there was a fight, then she was dead,” 

 

Stephen looked around, then looked back at Peter. “That’s it?” He asked. It was good to know that there was a witness-extremely good actually-but still, most of that was something he could have figured out as soon as he came in here if he had some more context clues.

 

He glanced away and worried his lip. “I’ve only been here for ten minutes, and most of that’s been just collecting glass with blood on it and dusting for prints,” 

 

“Haven’t you checked the camera’s yet?” Loki asked, slightly pointing to one of the security cameras in the corner.    
  


Peter sighed. “I tried to, but all of the batteries were drained about ten minutes before the police were called, which I’ll look into don’t worry. I just...need to get back into the lab before I do that.” 

 

Stephen nodded, then turned to look at the bar. The shelves were broken, along with a few kegs. Most of the barstools were knocked over or broken in some way. 

 

“Must have been one hell of a fight,” He mumbled, trying to figure out  _ how  _ it went down. He’d been in way too many fights, most of them included magic or monsters of some type, but it still didn’t change the fact that he should be able to figure out what happened. 

 

“I’m going to talk to the witness,” Loki said, moving past him to the back door. “Coming with? Or do you just want to stare at everything some more?”   
  
Stephen painfully rolled his eyes. “Christ I'm coming,” He said, he’d rather question the witness with the human lie detector than by himself, or just have the information come second handly. Loki stiffly nodded, pulled the door open and walked in.   
  
“Alright, I’ll just uh, stay out here, looking for shit, I’ll text you guys stuff as I find it,” Peter said.    
  
Stephen smiled at him before following Loki. 

* * *

 

The backroom smelled of smoke, making Loki flinch slightly. Midgurdians had stupidly dangerous habits, and smoking just happened to be one of them. Loki personally hated smoking, too much potential for something horrible to happen.  The room was pretty simple, there was a couch pushed into the corner, a table with some chairs, and some cubies lined up against the wall. Sitting at the table was a blond woman with a green blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She looked up as he and Stephen walked in. Her face was stained with tears. 

 

“I take it you two are the detectives here?” She asked in a thick New York accent. Loki wrinkled his nose at her, god he couldn’t wait to finish this. He might be a lie detector but he still hated interacting with Midgaurdians.   
  
Stephen came to a stop beside him and smiled. “Yes we are, I’m Detective Strange, and he’s Detective Laufeyson. We need to ask you some questions,” 

Loki glared at Stephen from the corner of his eye. Of course, this asshole was good with people, he shouldn’t have expected anything less really. 

 

The woman sighed. “Alright, take a seat and I’ll tell you everything you need to know. I’m Hannah by the way,”    
  
Loki quietly sat down at the table as Stephen sat next to him. 

 

The room was almost still for a moment before Loki cut it with a knife. “What happened?” He asked, thinking of the most simple question she could answer. 

 

Hannah took an audible breath, her hand’s shaking a bit. “I....i sat down for a drink with Kat after a long shift when some....man walked in, I was about to kick the asshole out when Kat said he was an old friend and that she needed to talk to him alone for a moment,”    
  
Hannah looked down and clenched her fist. “Next thing I know I hear a crash and when I came out Kat was out on the floor,”    
  
Loki looked at Hannah oddly. So far so good, no lies or anything, but that just made Loki want to push her further. 

 

“Was it just one crash? Because I don’t think that mess out there could be caused by one crash,” 

Stephen gave him a dirty look but stayed silent. 

“I honestly don’t remember, everything before I saw Kat is kinda a blur now,”  Hannah said. Loki clicked his tongue. The one thing his natural lie detection couldn’t get through was memory loss. 

 

“Then why don’t you tell us about Kat herself?” Stephen asked. 

 

“Like do you know why anyone would want to kill her?” Loki quickly added on. 

 

“No, no I don’t think so,” Hannah said and a haze came over Loki. He zeroed in on Hannah. Hannah’s eye twitched, just the tinest bit, so tiny that normal people wouldn’t even notice. But Loki wasn’t really considered normal, right? 

 

“You do like Kat, correct Miss?” Loki asked, folding his hands on the table. 

 

“Yes, god yes of course I do, we’ve been friends since, well forever,” She said, laughing bitterly.    
  
“Then, please explain why you're lying to us,”    
  
Hannah looked at him like he was insane as Stephen stared over at him with bewilderment. 

 

“I’m sorry?” 

 

“Your left eye twitched, so your lying,” Loki said. “And there has to be a good reason for that,” 

 

Hannah put a hand up to her chest. “I’m not lying Detective,” 

 

“Well, I hate to say this-actually you know what I don’t, Miss you are lying and you better have a damn good reason for it. Unless you wanted your supposed friend to die that is,” Loki said calmly, it was a long shot and he knew it, Hannah seemed perfectly innocent. Yet it was easier to put some pressure on the witness for them to answer truthfully. It always worked on Asgard at least. 

 

There was a sudden thud. Loki looked over to see Stephen slam his hands on the table. 

 

“Alright that’s it Laufeyson we’re going,” Stephen said as he got out of his seat, glaring at Loki. He glared back at Stephen.

 

“Hannah we’ll be in contact with you alright?” 

 

Hannah nodded, seeming a little scared then Stephen grabbed Loki’s wrist with surprising strength and dragged them out of the room, slamming the door behind them. 

 

“What the hell was that all about?!” Stephen asked. 

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” 

 

“You basically accused her of  _ murder,”  _

 

Loki shrugged and crossed his arms. “So?” 

 

“So?! That’s all you have to say?” Stephen groaned and rubbed his temples with two fingers. 

 

“Alright, we’re leaving,” Stephen said.

 

“I’m sorry?” Loki raised an eyebrow.   
  


Stephen sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “We’re leaving,” 

 

“And why the hell are we doing that?” 

 

Stephen deadpanned. “Because you just did that whole fucking thing and I don’t even know how to recover from that. So we’re going to question her later so she doesn't call a lawyer or some shit. And I swear to god if you pull something like that again I’m just going to ditch you,” 

 

Though he hated to admit it, Stephen had a point. He might have gone a little too far, humans were way too weak to just brush of being accused of murder. Which was tragic, really.

 

“Fine, I’ll just investigate out here for now,”    
  
Stephen shook his head. “No, we’re leaving the crime scene completely, we can always come back out here if we need to,”

 

“Then pray to tell where are we going?” 

 

Stephen smirked. “The victim's apartment, Peter just texted the address to us,” 

 

And Loki, despite himself, smiled a little bit. He might just get excited over this.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck me here we are. UHHHH i'm not sure about the ending of this chapter, so let me know what you think. 
> 
> Comments and Kudo's are always loved

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go boys this is going to be a shit show of a time, I'll try to update every Sunday, but i might not be able too.
> 
> Comments and Kudo's are always appreciated


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